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man... it's so nice talking about something other than iraq or bush-bashing.
if we're talking about people needing to make a living wage while working 40 hours a week (as that seems to be the starting point on this thread), then consider this:
we'll start with a very conservative estimate... say just $8 an hour for unskilled labor. the cashier's at walmart start off close to that. for a couple...
$8 an hour, multiplied by 40 hours a week. 52 weeks in a year times 40 hours a week... double that figure to find total income for a married couple.
the figure comes to $33,280 for two unskilled fulltime incomes. i'm not saying i would want live on that, especially with a wife and maybe a child. however, that isn't bad is it? before anyone thinks i'm on a high-horse... i used to be poor. dirt poor. i'm a bit embarrassed to say my family even enrolled in welfare for a couple months when i was very young. still, for the basics of life... that isn't an unjustifiably low figure, is it? i know that here in Oklahoma $33,000 will take you a lot farther than most places... do unskilled labor jobs pay more in areas with a higher cost of living? i should know that.
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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.
~ Winston Churchill
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